


Fifty Ways to Say I Love You

by Joe_Reaves



Category: Magnificent Seven (TV)
Genre: M/M, One sentence fics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-09
Updated: 2010-04-09
Packaged: 2017-10-08 19:39:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/78861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Joe_Reaves/pseuds/Joe_Reaves
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Snapshots of a Relationship</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fifty Ways to Say I Love You

#01 – Beautiful

JD watched as Chris emerged from the lake, the water slicking his hair back and dripping from his hard body; he'd never say it out loud but his lover was beautiful.

#02 – Heart

Chris felt his heart freeze and then start beating again at double time as JD smiled at him and then leaned in to kiss him.

#03 – Smile

JD ducked his head to hide his blush as Chris teased him, a smile dancing around his mouth and changing his normally stern features to those of a mischievous little boy.

#04 – Feeling

JD straightened, a feeling between his shoulder blades telling him he was being watched; he turned and caught his lover's gaze from across the room.

#05 – Knowledge

Buck was starting yet another tall story about him and a woman and Chris was shaking his head and laughing; looking up, he met JD's eyes and smiled at the secrets hidden there that only he knew.

#06 – Ageless

Chris watched indulgently as JD whooped and cheered, celebrating his victory in the race against Vin; he loved JD's innocence and childish heart.

#07 – Time

High Noon, such a clichéd time for a showdown, but the fugitive was there in the street, calling for the Sheriff, and JD was set on going, and Chris glanced up at the roof opposite where Vin was hiding; the setting might be clichéd, but JD wouldn't be alone.

#08 – Desire

JD glanced back over his shoulder and winked at Chris, and then he ran inside the cabin and headed for the bedroom, confident his lover would be right behind him.

#09 – Dramatic

Chris levelled his best glare at JD and then forced himself not to grin when his lover clutched at his chest dramatically and fell to the ground as if he'd been shot; that boy was just asking for a spanking.

#10 – Subdued

JD watched from across the saloon as Chris worked his way through a bottle of rot gut whisky; it was the anniversary of Sarah and Adam's deaths and all he could do was be here to pick him up and put him to bed when he'd finally had enough.

#11 – Gold

JD was pretending to doze on the porch of Chris' cabin, but really he was watching him chop wood, shirtless and sweaty, hair and skin turning gold in the sun.

#12 – Silver

Chris smiled softly when he saw the flash of silver around JD's neck; the St Christopher he'd given him for Christmas was as close to a wedding ring as they'd ever get.

#13 – Dark

Chris watched from the street as the lights were extinguished one by one in JD's house, his black clothing helping him disappear into the darkness as he waited silently for the right moment to clip across the street and into his lover's welcoming arms.

#14 – Light

JD lit the lamp with trembling fingers, watching in awe as the light revealed Chris' golden body, inch by inch, the sweat glistening on his skin as he stroked himself and enticed JD to join him on the bed.

#15 – Twilight

The sun was disappearing behind the buildings as Chris finally rode back into town, the shadows lengthening and cloaking the street in darkness, the only light the golden glow escaping from the saloon and from between the curtains in the houses he passed, and there, at the livery door, a lantern, hung by his lover as he waited patiently for his return.

#16 – Dawn

JD stretched and then snuggled closer to Chris, nestling in his arms, feeling the warmth of his body against his back as he watched the sun rise over the mountains.

#17 – Power

JD smiled at Chris and took a sip of his milk; he knew that one of the things that attracted Chris to him was his 'innocence', not that he'd had much of that left in a technical sense after a week with Chris, or before that if he was honest, but he knew he wasn't as cynical or world weary as Chris and that his lover found that refreshing, so he continued to smile sweetly and drink his milk, knowing that as soon as Chris got him alone he was going to get pinned to the nearest flat surface.

#18 – Protect

Chris pulled his injured lover behind an outcropping of rocks and kept up a steady rhythm of fire against their attackers, hoping that the others would arrive before he ran out of bullets.

#19 – Courage

Chris watched as JD pulled his gun and ordered the bank robber to surrender – he admired his lover's courage; then he watched him dive for cover as the man's comrades opened up on the spot he'd been standing – his timing sucked, but he admired his courage.

#20 - Faith

Chris watched JD as he joked around with Buck and Vin; he didn't have much faith in anything these days, but he had faith in JD, and maybe that was all he needed.

#21 – Pray

Chris stroked JD's hair as the young man once more lay in the clinic, recovering from a gun shot wound; he wished he could take JD away from all this but he knew the Sheriff would never abandon his town so he stayed and watched, praying for peace.

#22 – Intensity

JD shivered as Chris turned his famous glare in his direction; those eyes were so powerful, almost burning their way into his soul; he could lose himself in those eyes.

#23 – Cool

Chris leaned over and dropped his poncho over JD's head, tugging it into place before sending him off on an early morning patrol.

#24 – Warm

Chris woke up slowly, aware of a warm, heavy weight against his shoulder and a soft snorting sound as JD snored quietly.

#25 - Whisper

JD rested a hand on his shoulder and leaned closer as he rose from the table, whispering in Chris' ear he told him, "Be good. I'll see you in my room in an hour."

#26 – Secret

Chris sneaked out of JD's room just as dawn was breaking and climbed the boarding house stairs to his own; just once he wished he could stay in his lover's arms all night.

#27 – Promise

JD carefully hung the St Christopher around his neck, and with trembling fingers he wrapped a band of leather around Chris' wrist; no one else would know what they meant, but they would know the promises they had made tonight.

#28 – Strength

JD supported Chris' weight as he practically carried him into the clinic, calling out for Nathan as he lowered him to the bed and started cutting his pants off around the bullet hole.

#29 – Weakness

Chris cursed as his leg gave out beneath him again, it was taking too long to heal and he hated feeling weak; then a strong pair of arms wrapped around his waist and helped him stand, reminding him he didn't have to do it alone.

#30 – Love

Pulling JD close, Chris cupped his face with one calloused hand and kissed him softly.

#31 – Hate

JD levelled his gun at the fleeing fugitive and pulled the trigger; he hated to kill, but he felt no regret for this death, since this was the woman who had destroyed his lover's life, and he'd kill her a hundred times if it would bring Chris just a moment of peace.

#32 – Silence

Chris glanced at the man riding next to him; they hadn't exchanged a single word since they left town, but it was a comfortable silence, one that spoke of friendship and a deep abiding love.

#33 – Distress

JD had shouted and complained and railed against the bad luck that had put a bystander in he way of his bullets, and he'd even threatened to leave, but now he was back in Chris' cabin, sheltered in his lover's arms where he could let it go and cry as he'd wanted to in town.

#34 – Fate

He'd never meant to get off in Four Corners; if those cowboys hadn't tried to lynch Nathan just as the stage was coming through he'd have ridden through it with barely a second glance and he'd never have met Chris Larabee, and every night he thanked whatever twist of fate had landed him here in this town at this time, with these men, with Chris.

#35 – Fortune

The money they'd found was enough that any of them could have moved away and done anything they wanted, but instead they stayed and invested it in land and buildings; they'd found their fortune in this dusty town long before they'd found the money.

#36 – Nightmare

Chris tossed and turned fitfully, images of fire and smoke before his eyes, the sounds of his wife and son's screams in his head; gentle arms wrapped around him and a soft voice chased them away and replaced them with new visions of his young lover stretched out on their bed just waiting for him, and he rolled closer to the warm body and drifted back to sleep.

#37 – Justice

Chris watched as JD stood up straighter and proudly pinned the silver star to his jacket; to Chris, JD was the embodiment of justice and he made him want to be a better man.

#38 – Death

Chris knelt before the freshly dug grave and hooked a St Christopher medal around the cross; he'd lost someone else close to him, and this time he didn't think it would be long before he followed, because he couldn't do this without him.

#39 – Moon

The silvery light of the moon shone through the window, turning JD's skin to alabaster and his hair to jet and making Chris' breath catch in his throat at the sight.

#40 – Sun

Chris had taken his shirt off as he worked, and between the physical effort of fixing the fence and the hot sun above, he was now covered in a sheen of glistening sweat that JD longed to lick away.

#41 – Star

JD looked out of his window at the star shooting across the sky and made his wish, praying for just a little more time before Chris moved on, a few more memories to keep him warm when the man's restless feet made him ride out in search of pastures new, leaving him here with his badge and his town and his broken heart.

#42 – Tower

JD watched as Chris slowly built up his tower of cards, concentrating all his skill on it as he competed to beat Ezra and win the bet, and he had t turn away to hide his laughter when one card away from doing it, the door swung open and Buck breezed in, knocking the tower over with the force of his entry.

#43 - Stranger

JD knocked back another glass of his lover's favourite whisky, ex lover he supposed; Ella had breezed into town and Chris had become a stranger right in front of his eyes until finally they left together.

#44 – Familiar

The taste of Chris' cheroots was something he'd reluctantly become familiar with over the course of their relationship; now with Chris out of town he was glad it had because smoking them made it easier to imagine his lover was still here with him and let him sleep, safe in his phantom lover's arms.

#45 – Forgotten

He'd almost forgotten what it was like to share a bed with someone, not just for warmth or for sex, but because you couldn't imagine sleeping anywhere else; now that he knew that feeling again, he couldn't understand how he'd lived without it for so long.

#46 – Memory

Watching JD play in the snow with Vin, he was reminded of Adam and the snowman they'd made that last Winter, loving JD had purged the pain of those memories and given him back the happy years before he'd lost Sarah and Adam and he'd never be able to thank JD enough for that.

#47 – Change

Buck watched as Chris laughed openly at the banter between Vin and JD and blessed his surrogate brother for the change he saw in his oldest friend; it was like seeing the man he'd known in his youth, before death and grief had stolen this side of him.

#48 - Color

Buck tripped over his feet and he heard Vin call out a teasing remark, which Chris brushed off with a glare and a hand gesture; it was an exaggeration to say Chris only wore black, but Buck couldn't remember the last time he'd seen him in a bright red shirt and catching JD's eye, he grinned, because only one man could have made him wear it and do so happily.

#49 - Shadow

Chris lurked in the shadows, watching as JD disappeared into the upper rooms of the saloon with one of the girls and cursed the fact that he'd left it so late to tell him of his feelings; turning away, he vowed he wouldn't let it be too late-tomorrow he'd tell him.

#50 – Breath

Chris gasped for breath, struggling against what felt like an entire herd of horses trampling his chest, crushing the breath from him; he knew the bullet had hit his lung and even Nathan wouldn't be bringing him back from this so he closed his eyes and pictured JD, laughing, young, the day he'd first met him, holding the image there so it would be the last thing he saw and then he relaxed, letting out one last, shuddering breath, and was gone.


End file.
